100 Restaurants Sign Up to Recycle Compost in NYC

More than 100 restaurants have signed on to New York City's Food Waste Challenge, the city's first attempt at a commercial composting program. The goal is to divert 75% of all solid waste from landfills by 2030 - organic waste accounts for about a third of that and over 70% of restaurant waste. As food waste degrades in landfills, methane is released, a very potent greenhouse gas. San Francisco currently diverts 80% of its waste from landfills . NYC recycles only about 15%. Bloomberg wants to double that by 2017. He's also looking to ban Styrofoam and just announced that all kinds of rigid plastics - including toys, hangers and food containers - can now be recycled because a plant dedicated to that is opening in Brooklyn. The extra 50,000 tons recycled each year will save the city $600,000 in avoiding long truck trips to landfills in other states. Sims Municipal Recycling ...